Lisboa

This will be part 2 of my fall break trip... Lisbon.

This city is now easily one of my favorite cities in Europe.  Possibly even my favorite. So:
We flew in from Madrid to spend the last two nights of our vacation in Lisbon.  I really had no idea what to expect... I knew very little about Portugal and couldn't recognize portuguese if I heard it.  Also nobody had ever told me anything about the city, and I didn't research it.  I was pleasantly surprised.

The first thing I noticed when we were on the bus from the airport were all of the really antique looking street cars (maybe I like it so much 'cause it's so similar to SF? There is a golden gate bridge wannabe as well...).  The second thing I noticed was that a young portuguese man plopped down to sit with Katie on the bus, and immediately started chatting her ear off.  He talked about how his favorite color was green because that is the color of Portugal's soccer team (called Sporting, which is a pretty good name I think), and how he could not get over how the Boston Red Sox colors are red, but the Boston Celtics colors are green.  How can there be two colors?  Anyway, this guy just sort of stuck in my mind for some reason...

                              Street Car:                                                              Old windy street that they go on:

Luckily we got to ride on one of those great street cars through a bunch of small windy streets to our hostel in the old town.  This place was easily the best hostel I've ever stayed in and a better experience than any hotel I've ever stayed in.  They had this amazing little enclosed garden off of the main reception and an awesome patio that has a great view of the old buildings and the ocean.  They had an activity for every night of the week, with free BBQ's, walking tours, bar hops, etc.  Free pancakes every morning... also the owner made everyone pumpkin soup one night.  The place was decorated in a really cool way, and all the staff was really nice and social.  It was like a home away from home!  I sort of wish I worked there!  AND! 15 euro a night.  It was so awesome.

       The Patio:                  The owner even had a Portuguese water dog!        View from the patio:

The first night we were there, the activity of the night was a Fado tour.  I had no idea what this was, but it is now what I think of when I think of Portugal.  Fado is this style of music that consists of usually two guitar players and one singer.  It is meant to be very mournful and emotional, often about love or life in poverty... I just thought it was so unique and amazing.  You can seriously walk down almost any street, any night of the week and hear live Fado from inside every cafe.  With no tourists around really, it just had this really authentic feeling... The musicians usually just do it because they love it.  It is still taken very seriously though, with no talking allowed and nobody allowed to enter/exit during performance.  Just beautiful singing in a usually very dark cafe with people sitting around listening and drinking wine/sangria.  I don't know... I just loved it.  Our guide from the hostel took a small group of us around and showed us a variety, with more professional musicians and not so professional musicians.

                                          Video of some Fado, sorry it was too dark:

The next day the girls wanted a beach day, so they did that while David and I hopped on a train to this place that had been recommended to him, called Sintra.  It turned out to be a pretty big place that was fairly spread out in the mountains with all kinds of cool parks, castles, etc.  So we first went to this huge park that had this castle and all kinds of other crazy things to stumble upon.  We ended up hiking around quite a bit, eventually ending up at this peak called the high cross, where the view was absolutely amazing.  I realized how much I enjoyed hiking around and exploring after being in the city all the time.

             From the high cross, a view of the westernmost point of continental europe (right pic):

   David reconnecting with his catholic roots:

                                          Video from the top:

After this we went on to this other place called the Quinta da Regaleira.  I kept asking David before, "so what are these places we're going to see?" and he never really had an answer.  After this place, I know why.  I can't even describe it.  It was this large house owned by a portuguese man from way back when, that had this crazy park for a yard with all kinds of crazy things built in.  It had all these cool looking structures and ponds and wells and grottos and, no big deal, tons of underground caves and tunnels.  Probably the best part about being there was the fact that I had no idea what the place was, and no idea what to do.  See description on the pamphlet/map:

Can I go into that dark cave? There aren't any signs... I seriously felt like I was on lots of drugs, or in something like willy wonka or alice in wonderland.... So David and I explored this place for a few solid hours.  Quite a day to say the least.

That night the guy from the hostel took us to this cool bar that had a band playing downstairs.  One of the guys in the band was playing the handsaw with a bow.  I don't know if anyone else has ever seen this, but it was pretty cool.  The day after, we went and saw the modern art museum which had an Andy Warhol exhibition.  Also awesome.  Then back to Brussels that night (with a quick sleepover in the Milan airport)!

I just can't say enough about my time in Lisbon... Mechthild says that it is sort of a destination for many Europeans, but not a lot of other people try to go there.  I think that I had such an amazing time because I had absolutely no idea what to expect and just explored new things the entire time (of course now I've just ruined it for whoever reads this!).  It just had this cultural vibrance, with the old town of Alfama and the Arab influences, that really stood out to me.  I obviously think everyone should go if they get the chance!  And stay at the Alfama Patio Hostel!

                              Puerta del Sol:                                                              Street at night:

                              Alfama:                                                                        Golden Gate look-a-like:

~Christian